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Bear wanders into South Miami-Dade neighborhood, scares residents

SOUTH MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A wild bear was found getting a little too comfortable in a South Florida neighborhood, but neighbors aren’t on the welcome wagon.

Cameras captured the animal on the move. One neighbor spotted the animal roaming around the area, and that’s when she sent a Facebook message to her neighbor who didn’t believe her story until she saw a picture. That neighbor decided to check her security cameras, and as suspected, she found out the bear was in her yard too.

They may be laughing about it now, but residents who live in the neighborhood near Homestead were on edge after spotting the unexpected visitor.

“I don’t much like it, but I don’t walk outside after dark so,” said resident Linda.

Another resident has a family to think about. “It is concerning with the children, but they seem to be very comfortable.”

A bear could be seen roaming through the driveway of one of the homes late at night.

“I find this to be strange,” said resident Natalie Burton. “I find this to be completely strange. It’s just weird. It just boils down to we are in the forest.”

This isn’t the first time the bear has been seen roaming through their neighborhood. “He was tagged, so I think that says that he’s already been removed once,” said one resident.

“They’re tagged, and they’ve been released again. They keep coming back,” said resident Ingrid Koivu. “I don’t know what they can do now.”

One child said that the idea of a bear roaming around is scary. “I think it’s terrifying because people have draws, and they have to pick up the trash and take out their recycling, and then if there’s a bear wandering around — because bears are fast — they can just grind you up into a million pieces,” said Jackson Hall.

Luckily, the bear hasn’t been violent, but parents are now thinking twice about letting their little ones outside anytime soon.

“It makes me a little nervous about him going outside by himself at night,” said one parent.

“They’re not playing outside, no,” Koivu said.

Residents said the main reason they’re on edge is because the neighborhood has no lights, making it difficult to see if the bear is wandering when the sun is down.

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